Vodaphone being mega-obstructive

marisak

Going to try to keep this short and sweet but it's a longstanding and complex issue, one I am trying to resolve on behalf of my son (a student with dyslexia who is pretty trusting and - yep - doesn't always read small print, and who has become totally stressed out over this to the detriment of his studies). Hope I cover the major facts correctly :
1. Two years ago he took out a 2-year Vodaphone contract on a Phones for U Blackberry, plus insurance; a year ago the phone was stolen. He reported it to police within minutes and went to Vodaphone the next day to work out what to do next. I live overseas; he needs a phone with internet to keep in touch.
2. Vodaphone sold him a new contract/Blackberry and he didn't really look into what happened with the original contract - he assumed it was now void/superceded by the new contract as he had said specifically that he wanted to cancel the original contract linked to the stolen phone.
3. Soon he discovers he is paying for two contracts and is locked into both (would have been nice if someone at Vodaphone had just reminded him of this when he said the first phone was stolen, and before he signed a new contract. I cannot believe that he didn't have other options).
4. He discovers he owes in excess of GBP500 for calls made to Somalia on the stolen phone, before he 'cancelled' the contract with Vodaphone. He tries to claim on his insurance but they require a fully itemised bill. He finds he cannot get one through his Vodaphone account online so requests one in store.
5. They won't give him a fully itemised bill instore because he owes them so much money. He explains, many times over many months to many people instore that if they would just give him the itemised bill so he can get the money through his insurance, he can pay the money owing.
6. Round and round in circles for months and months. People instore tell him to call customer services but as he is broke (because of paying for 2 contracts) and the explanation takes ages, the calls are usually cut off. Or he is told by customer services telephonically to deal with it through his online account but - I assume because he cannot pay the GBP500 - his access to the account is still restricted to the extent that he cannot access this fully itemised bill.
7. In the end, to try and resolve things, he takes out an overdraft he cannot afford and pays Vodaphone the GBP500 outstanding on the first contract, plus various penalties I believe. Instore people say they STILL cannot provide him with the itemised bill even now; he must get it through his online account - where he STILL has his access to the bill in question restricted for some reason. Meanwhile the insurance company are demanded the itemised bill or they won't pay up, despite his explanations of how obstructive Vodaphone are being.
8. Since the original 2-year contract eventually expired, all details related to this contract and his bill are now deleted from his online account. He keeps explaining to the insurance company that all his best, very time-consuming efforts over the course of a full year have not produced this itemised bill but they imply that too long has now passed and they won't honour the payment anyway.
9. Last Friday we emailed the askmark@help Vodaphone email address to complain. They promised to respond within 24 hours. We have had no further information despite a second email to them.

I do know that my son ought to have enquired more comprehensively regarding his responsibilities vis the original contract but he had just been robbed and was, at that time, confident that Vodaphone were trying to help him - not tie him into a second contract while knowing he still had to pay for the first. I feel he ought to have had his options explained to him at the very least.
I also feel that to help the process of getting their GBP500, Vodaphone ought to have been able to just give him the fully itemised bill he requested, instead of sending him from pillar to post over and over again on a wild goose chase.
Lastly, what kind of email complaints process just ignores a request for assistance? Considering my son was - I would maintain - semi-duped into a new contract and then forced to encounter all kinds of obstructions that in the end drove him to take out a massive loan, the least 'askmark' could do is try to assist a little now all the details have been erased from my son's account online and we have no access to them in order to process the insurance claim (assuming they will honour it after a year).

My son has given up - multiple visits to the store, multiple calls and efforts to resolve this online/by email have taken their toll, not to mention the overdraft. Therefore I am appealing for someone, somewhere, to tell me where we now stand with this.
Thanks in advance:T

HereAgain_2

campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/guylaurence/

Telephone number and email address via PM

HereAgain_2

As per the link above...."I'm Guy Laurence, the Vodafone UK CEO..."

mehera

It sounds like he was miss-sold the 2nd contract to me!

Surely he could have been given the option to pay a fixed amount for a replacement phone under his original contract ...

The best thing may be to whack Vodaphone for a County Court claim for all the money paid under the new contract and any other related costs.

If your son is dislexic it is tantamount to taking advantage of someone with a disability!!!!!

Or just threaten to get Watchdog involved - that will likely speed them up.

HereAgain_2

Wasn't Phones 4u mentioned somewhere along the line?

Cycrow

mehera wrote: »

It sounds like he was miss-sold the 2nd contract to me!

Surely he could have been given the option to pay a fixed amount for a replacement phone under his original contract ...

never heard of any network doing that, and why would they ?
esspecially as the original phone didn't even come from the network in the first place.

The options were to either take out a 2nd contract with a new phone, buy a new phone outright to use on the existing contract, or payout the existing contract and get a new one.

The last 2 would require a large upfront fee, maybe it was offered but they didn't want to pay the fee?
Or maybe it wasn't offer because they made it clear they didn't want to pay an upfront fee.

But it was silly to assume that an existing contract would simply be cancelled with no penalty.

marisak

I wasn't there when the second contract was negotiated, and my son had just been robbed a long way from home and so was not 100% on the ball. And a nineteen year-old might tend to trust a professional appearing to be helpful when he goes to them for assistance.
But he did clearly ask for the old contract to be cancelled and there was then no subsequent discussion about the various options (buying a cheaper phone and using it on the original contract etc.) available to him. He was just told to take out a brand new contract, with a new phone, and it was not pointed out to him that this would not piggyback onto the old contract, but that it would run in tandem with it, resulting in double costs.
Misrepresentation? Maybe not. Unfair practice? I would judge so....
Anyway, that's kind of water under the bridge, and he has learned to get someone to look at contracts now before he signs, but my main issue is with Vodafone's total refusal to give him a copy of the fully itemised bill he needs to make the insurance claim, or indicate to him how he can access it online. He has paid the outstanding bill in full - surely he is entitled to have a copy of his own records?
And surely we are entitled to have our complaint dealt in some manner with within 7 days?

Earthworm

It is quite a long story so apologies if I have missed anything.

In an ideal situation he would have rang Voda to block the SIM/blacklist the handset and then went to Phones4U as they provided the insurance. I am puzzled as to why he didn't. It would be difficult to prove Vodafone mis-sold the second contract though as he could have said no given the knowledge he had taken out insurance for exactly this sort of occurrence.

I would follow advice above and push for an itemised bill but failing that I would pay the outstanding money to then recoup it via insurance. Given the circumstances though I think emailing someone high up will result in Vodafone caving and sending out the itemised bill as it seems clear enough they will get their money.

I don't think you will be able to escape the second contract though.

Good luck.

marisak

It was early morning - he walked to the police station to file a report then walked to Vodafone as they opened to block the sim. In that period of time the phone bill of GBP500 had been accumulating but he was not worried so much because, as you say, his insurance was set up to cover this.
His insurers were willing to pay out for the calls made when the phone was stolen but insist on a FULLY itemised bill. This has never been available online, either before or after the bill was settled, and the Vodafone store won't give him a print out - though I am sure they could. Now the contract has expired there appears to be no way to access the bill, hence no way to recoup the GBP500 from the insurers. It's a lot of money and it is covered by his insurance, but the insurer's hands are tied unless Vodafone will release his bill.
That's the key issue. They won't allow him access to his bill.

HereAgain_2

Have you sent the email? No point in carrying on the discussion here unless no reply is received from the Executive office.

carrieparkinson

hi,
* p4u are at fault for the second line not Vodafone. its always the point of sale on that one.
*p4u cannot cancel a line down. they have no authority to do so unless its a new line return.
*lost and stolen line @Vodafone is open 24/7
*takes seconds to order a copy bill on the system (£1.50 charge) / slightly longer to email it to you (for free). i never refuse to send either regardless of the balance on the account.(unless system issue) id say most agents have the ability to do both, no idea what their problem is... theres no policy stopping the agent from doing it regardless of the balance.
*email can take a day or so to get a response, dependent on the queue its in. if you did it via the website /online form and got the receipt then you will get a response eventually. (not the best answer i know).

i hope you get this sorted soon.